A tanning addict who now has stage four cancer admits she was ‘stupid’ to abuse her ‘second chance at life’ by refusing to give up her almost weekly tanning sessions – despite having already survived the disease once.
Carmen Oakes was told in June 2014 that a red-colored mole on her back was cancer, but successful surgery meant she was completely clear.
But despite the fear, the 48-year-old couldn’t give up her 30-year tanning habit and ‘played with fire’ by having a tanning session almost every week to maintain her golden glow.
In January, a four-inch mass was found in her right lung and she was diagnosed with stage four metastatic melanoma.
The mother-of-two now regrets not heeding her first warning and blames sunbeds for her devastating diagnosis, warning others not to ‘ruin their skin’ with their powerful UV rays.
Carmen, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: ‘I was playing with fire but being stupid I thought, ‘Oh well, they just took it out’.
‘I was given a second chance at life, so I continued (tanning beds).
Carmen Oakes was told in June 2014 that a red-colored mole on her back was cancer, but successful surgery meant she was given the result.
Despite the scare, the 48-year-old couldn’t give up her 30-year tanning habit and ‘played with fire’ by having a tanning session almost every week to maintain her golden glow (pictured with her partner Ian Jones)
The grandmother discovered in June 2014 that the red-colored birthmark on her back was cancerous
She successfully had the stain removed from her back and cleared everything
‘I was naughty because I just had melanoma in my back. I should never have gone back to them.
‘It got to the point where me and my husband would go away at Christmas, have a night out or go to a spa and we’d have a sunbed every now and then.
‘Please don’t think that a tan is more important than a good life. Those tanning beds damage your skin. They age you and they kill you.
‘There are so many people who use these tanning beds at such a young age and they don’t realize that they can give you cancer.
‘They are not safe and please don’t listen to what they say in the shops.’
Carmen started using tanning beds at the age of 15, when she and her sister rented them for hour-long sessions for about six weeks.
She says the beds have become more intense since then, so she has been visiting salons about once a week for 20 years to enjoy 10-minute stints.
Her 26-year-old daughter, Chloe Jones, noticed a birthmark on her mother’s back in June 2014 and urged her to have it examined.
The birthmark was removed a month later, but tests confirmed it was cancer, so they made a second incision to check if the birthmark had spread.
Further tests gave her certainty, but the disturbing experience did not stop her from using the sunbed again.
Carmen started using tanning beds at the age of 15, when she and her sister rented them for a period of around six weeks to enjoy hour-long sessions (pictured with her partner Ian Jones)
She says the beds have become more intense since she started using them as a teenager, and so has been visiting salons about once a week for 20 years to enjoy 10-minute stints.
Her 26-year-old daughter, Chloe Jones, (right) noticed a birthmark on her mother’s back in June 2014 and urged her to have it examined.
The fitness-obsessed grandmother complained to friends about pain in her shoulders and arms in September 2021, but six months of iron supplements did not solve her problems.
Blood tests and visits to a rheumatologist also failed to identify the problem, but intense pain after one of her appointments in January this year led to a horrific new diagnosis.
Carmen said: ‘The day after I saw the rheumatologist I woke up and had excruciating pain in the left side of my chest.
‘I thought it was just a coincidence but I called my daughter Chloe and told her I have a pain in my chest and it’s just really painful.
“I called the emergency room and they told me to come down, so I went that day. They did a chest x-ray and found I had fluid around the lung. They weren’t happy about just rejecting me.
‘He wanted me to have a quick CT scan, but I didn’t think about it. I just thought it was probably fluid from when I had COVID in December 2022.”
On January 18, CT scan results showed there was a mass in her left lung and a biopsy on January 24 confirmed it was cancer.
The following month, doctors delivered the heartbreaking news that her tumor was metastatic melanoma and that it had returned from her previous diagnosis.
That day they sadly told Carmen that the tumor could not be removed because of the location in her lung, because it was attached to her blood vessels and heart chambers.
The fitness-obsessed grandmother complained to friends about pain in her shoulders and arms in September 2021, but six months of iron supplements didn’t solve her problems
Carmen started immunotherapy treatment, which involves injecting drugs to control the tumor, in March this year, which has reduced her tumor size by up to half.
On January 18, CT scan results showed there was a mass in her left lung and a biopsy on January 24 confirmed it was cancer.
She was told that the tumor could not be removed because it was in her lung, as it was attached to her blood vessels and heart chambers.
Carmen stays positive as she participates in her gym classes every day
Carmen started immunotherapy treatment, which involves injecting drugs to control the tumor, in March this year, which has reduced her tumor size by up to half.
Despite feeling exhausted after her diagnosis, Carmen remains positive and continues to participate in her gym classes every day.
Carmen said: ‘Even though I’m supposedly in stage four, I can still do all my lessons and sometimes I think, did they make a mistake because I’m feeling good?
‘I’m doing well so far, I think having a positive attitude has helped me a lot. I’ll do what I can to stay alive.
‘You can now get a fake tan and my skin even looks better.
‘My daughter no longer goes to the sunbed. She probably used some before she had her baby. But when she found out I was diagnosed with melanoma, she said she would never get one again.
‘You know it’s all very well that people say they don’t burn, but you can still get melanoma even if you don’t burn. I’m half Maltese, my mother is from Malta and I’ve never been burned. It does not matter.
‘You have so many young girls there. They are so beautiful and they are ruining their skin at such a young age by using tanning beds but they don’t realize it.
‘They start using tanning beds at such a young age, but twenty years later, after cancer has developed.’